Apple's global marketing chief Phil Schiller took a shot at rivals Android and Samsung, saying that Google's mobile operating system software is "fragmented," that most users are running older versions of Android and that buyers of Samsung's new Galaxy smartphone to be introduced tomorrow may be saddled with old software as well.

"With their own data, only 16 percent of Android users are on [a] year-old version of the operating system," Schiller said in an interview with Reuters. "Over 50 percent are still on software that is two years old. A really big difference."

Schiller's comments come the day before Samsung is set to introduce the new Galaxy S4 smartphone at a big event in New York. Samsung, which has been outspending Apple in advertising, is counting on the device to help extend its lead over the iPhone, which accounts for more than half of Apple's sales.

Schiller told Reuters that fragmentation, or the number of different versions of the Android in the marketplace, is a problem for users buying smartphones powered by Google's software. "That extends to the news we are hearing this week that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is being rumored to ship with an OS that is nearly a year old," he said. "Customers will have to wait to get an update."

He repeated his takedowns of Samsung and Google in additional interviews . "What I see is a reality that we’re doing really well, and it’s not always being reported,” he told Bloomberg News. "Android is often given as a free replacement for a feature phone and the experience isn't as good as an iPhone," he told the Wall Street Journal.

While it's rare for Apple to speak out directly against a competitor, this isn't the first time that Schiller has commented on Android. In a tweet last week, he encouraged users to “be safe out there” and pointed them to a “Mobile Threat Report” by F-Secure Labs that says the rise in popularity of Google's mobile software has led to a rise in Android malware. Android accounted for 79 percent of mobile threats in 2012. Apple’s iOS threat share: 0.7 percent, according to the report.